This invention relates to a remotely controlled winch means and more particularly to an apparatus which may be used in conjunction with a tower crane to enable the tower crane to lift a building panel from the bed of a truck and rotate the same into the proper position for attachment to the exterior of the building.
Pre-cast building panels are used extensively on the exteriors of large buildings. The building panels are normally cast at a location remote from the building site and it is necessary to transport the building panels to the job site where they are installed on the exterior of the building. Inasmuch as the building panels are normally rectangular and have a considerable height, the panels must be transported on their sides on a truck or trailer to the building site. Since the panels are resting on the truck bed on their sides, it is necessary to lift the panels from the truck and to then rotate the same 90.degree. so that the upper end of the building panel is positioned uppermost. Conventional practice has been to utilize a pair of cranes at the building site with the hoisting cable of the building or tower crane being secured to the upper end of the building panel with the hoisting cable of the second crane being secured to the side edge of the building panel. The second crane lifts the building panel upwardly from the truck until the panel has sufficiently cleared the truck whereupon the hoisting cable of the tower crane is moved upwardly to rotate the panel 90.degree.. Such a procedure requires that a second crane be at the building site which does entail considerable expense.
Applicant previously devised a remotely controlled winch means which was the subject of a patent application Ser. No. 815,649 filed Jan. 2, 1986, now abandoned. The winch means of the abandoned application was electrically operated and generally worked in a satisfactory manner. However, it was found that the electrically operated winch did not have the capacity to manipulate extremely large building panels. Further, if the electric motor in the previous device were to fail, there is a possibility that an accident could occur.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a remotely controlled winch means.
It is also a principal object of the invention to provide a remotely controlled winch means which may be used to facilitate the lifting of a building panel from the bed of a truck.
A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which may be used with a tower crane to enable the crane to lift a building panel from the bed of a truck.
A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which may be used with a crane to lift a building panel from the bed of a truck so that the necessity of a second crane is avoided.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a remotely controlled winch means wherein winch is controlled and operated by a hydraulic motor which is operatively connected thereto through a hydraulic brake and gear reducer.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which is safe to use.
These and other objects will be apparent to one skilled in the art.